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You know, try as I might, I really cannot get myself all that excited over Tim Geithner's tax problem. Such problems seem to afflict at least one Cabinet nominee per transition period and constitutes, at worst, a venial sin. I don't think that Geithner meant to pull the wool over anyone's eyes and while I know that some people will try to make a big deal over the matter, the issue just doesn't register with me; there just seems to be an innocent accounting error at work here.

What does register with me, however, are more consequential accounting issues, such as the ones concerning the second tranche of TARP funds. According to this news report, the incoming Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, is being less than transparent in telling us how the Obama Administration would spend the funds dispersed in the second tranche; an approach that even upsets Democratic Senators like Bill Nelson, who made his displeasure plain during Orszag's confirmation hearings. Once we stop obsessing over Tim Geithner's inconsequential tax problems, can we start worrying about the concerns Senator Nelson rightfully gives voice to? Given how little transparency existed with the expenditure of the first tranche of funds, and given that the incoming Administration promised to do better by proponents of open government, it would seem that Peter Orszag's accounting issues are far more important and worthy of attention than are Tim Geithner's.

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